New York Herald Tibune, New York, NY
Bits about Larry Hagman in newspapers and gossip columns up until the start of I Dream of Jeannie. Errors in spelling and other facts are left in, with corrections, comments and updates denoted by [ ].
6/17/1940
BEHIND THE SCENES IN HOLLYWOOD
By Harrison Carroll
Over on a Paramount sound stage, a tow-headed boy is watching Bing Crosby, Bill Frawley and Mary Martin do a scene for "Rhythm of the River." It is Mary Martin's son, Larry, and it is only the second time that he has seen his mother work before the camera. Mary comes over to him as soon as the scene is over.
"How did you like it?" she asks.
If you are a parent, you probably have guessed the reply in advance. Larry looks at his famous mother and says: "When do we eat?"
The Evening Independent, Massillon, OH
Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper befriended Mary Martin when Mary arrived in Hollywood in the late 1930s. She was occasionally Larry Hagman's babysitter, and would write about him in her columns from the beginning of his career until her death in 1966. Like Larry, she was fond of hats.
12/13/1950
For the Record: Larry, 19 year old son of Mary Martin, must have inherited her singing voice. He and Mary recorded "Your Just in Love," a tune from "Call Me Madam." One line in the lyric didn't sound motherly; so Irving Berlin changed it for Mary. Larry really will get started in show business when he goes to Florida to join Larry Schwab's musical circus. Schwab gave Mary her first job in the theater...
11/15/1952
Mary Martin will sing the story of her life at the Women's National Press Club Dec. 9. After a vacation in Jamaica and a stint with Rodgers and Hammerstein in the picture "Main Street to Broadway," She'll return to London where her son Larry is in the U.S. Air Force, and daughter, Heller, is studying ballet with Sadler Wells.
10/2/1954
MARY MARTIN'S SON PLANS WEDDING ABROAD
It will be a Christmas wedding for Sgt. Larry Hagman, son of Stage Star Mary Martin, and Mag Irene Axelsson, Swedish-born dress designer, in London.
Both are 23 and have known each other for eight months.
Mary will be playing in "Peter Pan" on Broadway and can't attend the church wedding, but she already has sent an enthusiastic invitation for the young couple to fly to New York for their Honeymoon.
Sgt. Hagman, head of entertainment for American soldiers in the British sector of Europe, wrote to ask permission from his step-father, Richard Halliday. Not wishing to upset his mother, he broke the news to Richard, but Mary couldn't have been more delighted. "I have been hoping he would fall in love and get married because then I'll know he's truly happy," she said.
Larry describes his bride-to-be as a blonde, blue-eyed and fantastically good-humored. He wrote: "She's a good cook and designs her own clothes. If you read a description of her in a magazine you would say: 'That would be a wonderful girl for Larry.'"
Hagman is Mary's son by her first marriage to a Texas attorney.
[Mag should be Maj, Larry and Maj were married on 12/18/1954]
7/18/1958
...Alan Pakula, co-producer of Speed Lamkin's play, "Comes the Day," with Judith Anderson starred, phoned from New York that they had just added Mary Martin's son, Larry Hagman, to play the romantic lead in it...
9/16/1959
MARY MARTIN'S SON GETS MAJOR ROLE
Mary Martin's son, Larry Hagman, plays opposite June Havoc with Julie Harris and Farley Granger in "Warm Peninsula." June wears a Helen Rose gown costing $2,000. In addition to the play she teaches a drama class at Columbia University...
5/29/1962
...Mary Martin's new ten pound grandson was named Preston Benjamin Alex. Grandma was at the hospital with son Larry Hagman when the baby was born. Tells me he looks like a full-blown peach.....
[Preston's full name is Preston Benjamin Axel Hagman]
12/28/1962
MARY MARTIN STILL VIP WITH BROADWAY COPS
I went with Mary Martin and Richard Halliday to see "The Beauty Part," a review in which Bert Lahr plays 12 different roles, outdoing Sid Caesar, who is only playing seven in "Little Me." S.J. Perelman wrote the show, which is funny as can be. Larry Hagman [Mary's son] plays a juvenile in it - an unrewarding characterization of a good man who fails to get anywhere in this lousy world...
Mary must know every policeman in the theater district; they all waved, blew kisses, and shouted holiday greetings - she's broadway royalty. "Sound of Music" now has four companies: New York, England, Australia, and one that's touring our southern states by bus. And Dick tells me Mary's albums from it are next in popularity to the ones she did for "South Pacific."
7/26/1963
Larry Hagman's back in town to play in "Mister Pulver". It is the first time since Mother Mary Martin brought him here from Texas. The company takes off for Acapulco this weekend, and Larry's determined his family's going along. ("I'd go stir-crazy without them"); Has to arrange passports and visas for his Swedish wife, Irish - born maid Daughter Heidi (5) and Preston (14 months). They came across country in a station wagon camping out nightly. He had a run-in with a bear in Yellowstone—the bear won. Joined them during dinner, knocked over the icebox, ate everything in sight and then scrammed...
...Larry watched a run-through of his mother's play "Jennie", says she sings a number on a yogi wheel whirling 30 feet in the air. I told him she was gonna bump herself off with one of those stunts. "She does it in everything," he said. "Is always falling into the pit. During 'Peter Pan', she flew into a brick wall and broke her arm." His sister, Heller, is honeymooning in Canada - a year and a half after her elopement.
[The movie is "Ensign Pulver" not "Mister Pulver". It is a sequel to "Mr. Roberts."]
7/29/1963
...Mary Martin's son, Larry Hagman, called to tell me his mother opened in Boston in "Jenny" to the Kennedy clan and a huge delegation of Democrats that bought out most of the house. "Knowing mother," said Larry, "I'm sure they both benefited"
10/11/1963
Larry Hagman, Mary Martin's son, finished "Ensign Pulver" and landed another job in "The Cavern" a true story of World War II about soldiers of several nations being locked in 15 miles of underground tunnels for six months. Marty Melcher starts the picture in Yugoslavia in mid-November, which will give Larry time to take the family to Texas for some hunting with his father, then drop the children off in Sweden to visit their maternal grandparents. He and his wife, Maj, will join them for a white Christmas.
7/22/1964
Colleen Moore [Mrs. Homer P. Hargrave], the flapper girl who began her motion picture career at the age of 16 and was the first star to receive $10,000 a week, came back to our town and got a homecoming she'll not soon forget. Four Parties where given for her and her friends from Chicago. I tossed the first one...
...Mary Martin's son, Larry Hagman, came with Elizabeth Ashley, since her fellow was out of town. Larry wants to buy a farm. Saw one with a ramshackle house on 22 acres not far from Hollywood. Price: $37,000 an acre...
2/1/1965
...Larry Hagman flew out eight weeks ago for an Alfred Hitchcock show which was canceled while in rehearsal. Then Sidney Sheldon asked him to make a TV pilot, I Dream of Genie, with Barbara Eden. He did, got the part, and called me with the big news that it's been sold. He and his family [two children] live in Santa Monica. Larry, in case you've forgotten, is Mary Martin's son.
2/12/1965
...Talk about crisis - Barbara Eden sure provoked one. After her TV series with Larry Hagman, I Dream of Genie, was sold, Barbara discovered she was pregnant. Following high-level conferences, Producer Sidney Sheldon decided to handle her the way they did Liz Montgomery in "Bewitched." They'll shoot six episodes right away, give her time for baby's arrival, then continue.
[I Dream of Jeannie, not Genie]
3/31/1965
...Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman have already started their new series I Dream of Jeannie, the adventures of an air force astronaut played by Larry. Barbara pops out of a bottle - doesn't every Jeannie? The first episode is called "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon." Al Rafkin directs, then Gene Nelson takes it from there.
5/12/1965
...Mary Martin phoned from Kansas City to say playing "Hello, Dolly!" is more than a play - it's an emotional explosion: "I don't know whether people are just happy to see live actors, but I've never felt so much love from audiences in my life. They don't want to leave the theater. I'm sure Carol Channing had the same experience. It's much like a revival meeting.
In Kansas City Mary lived in a marvelous penthouse. She invited me to join her in Dallas Monday. Josh Logan will be there to witness her homecoming. Mary's "Peter Pan" will be re-run again in January; BBC plays it in June. Her new special won't be seen until Easter, '66. Her son, Larry Hagman, will do "The Group," Mary McCarthy's story, while his TV co-star Barbara Eden has her baby.
5/22/1965
All those sheriffs sure turned out to welcome Mary Martin in Dallas, but without horses. After 40 minutes of posing with the lawmen for TV, Mary called on her oldest friend Bessie May Suella Younger Austin [a name she's used in every show- one way or another], and will attend the wedding of her daughter. Her own Heller and grandson, Timmy, surprised her by showing up. Son, Larry Hagman, and family arrive over the week-end. Only sad note is that Larry's father, Ben, suffered a serious stroke. The news was kept from Mary until she wrote some special "Hello, Dolly" lyrics for Dallas. She include Ben's name, so Richard Halliday had to tell her. After two weeks in Texas, she continues her "Dolly" tour that will eventually land her in Moscow...
[Mary's friend was Bessie Mae Sue Ella Yaeger, Austin may be correct]
6/10/1965
...Frances Bergen is busy in New York getting daughter Candy settled into a tiny apartment on east 68th street. She's hard at work on "The Group"; has two scenes with Larry Hagman. Candy says he's so good he's bound to be a big star. As you know, he's Mary Martin's son.
10/4/1965
David Merrick left for Tokyo to escort Mary Martin and the "Dolly" company to Viet Nam. He agrees it's dangerous, but says Mary wants to go and since they're in the area it's a nice gesture. I asked the real reason why Russia banned teh play: "It was a highly publicized show and looked like a good stunt for them to show the world they're not getting along with us. The whole political scene is beyond me."
...I asked Larry Hagman if he wasn't afraid for his mother in Viet Nam: "I am but she isn't." He says the whole family saw Mary's "Dolly" in Seattle: "She was living in a beautiful chateau with scads of servants."
8/18/1940
Mary Martin on the reaction to doing a striptease in Leave it to Me
"When I read the headlines the morning after the opening, I was kind of - well - bothered about how to tell my family. They kept asking me what I did, so finally I got my secretary to break the news and she wrote mother: 'Mary does a kind of strip-tease in the show.'
"But the only person who ever gave me a callin'-down about it was my little boy, Larry, who was about 6 then, when mother brought him to New York. During my act, he kept sliding lower and lower in his seat, and when he came backstage he talked about everybody in the cast except me. So finally I asked, 'Didn't you like it?' And he said, 'Well - mother, do you have to take off your clothes in front of all those people?'"
[Larry was 7]
Washington Post
8/18/1940
Paramount didn't think a husky son would be good publicity for it's warbling glamorist but Miss Martin wouldn't cooperate worth a hang - just kept telling everybody about Larry's music lessons and how he reads her press notices.
Washington Post
5/5/1941
BEHIND THE SCENES IN HOLLYWOOD
By Harrison Carroll
After the papers carried a story that Mary Martin is expecting a visit from the stork, her son, Larry, questioned her on the subject. "I had planned to tell you dear," said Mary. "I didn't think they were going to print it so soon." "Well," said Larry, "I wanted to find out if it was true or if it was just publicity."
The Times and Daily News Leader, San Mateo, CA
7/24/1942
DAUGHTER TO VISIT MRS. PRESTON MARTIN
Mrs. Preston Martin of Westwood Hills is anticipating a visit from her daughter, Mrs. R.R. Andrews (Jerry Martin) of Dallas, Tex.
Mrs. Martin and her grandson, Larry Hagman, are remaining in town this summer, while Larry is enjoying outdoor sports at the Urban Military Academy summer camp in Brentwood
Los Angeles Times
4/27/1947
Miss Martin said she was returning preparatory to taking the leading role in a road show production of Annie Get Your Gun which will open a three-week engagement at the Texas State Fair, Dallas, Oct. 4.
Miss Martin said she was looking forward to appearing in Texas - her home state - remarking that it would be her first visit there in ten years.
Miss Martin said the production would provide the stage debut for her daughter, who would play the part of Annie Oakley's sister; and Miss Martin's son, Larry, 15, who she said would be cast as a cowboy.
[Larry did not appear in this show]
Dallas Morning News
4/15/1949
Larry Hagman, 17-Year-Old son of Broadway star Mary Martin, had the leading male role in This Girl Business, presented Thursday night in the Weatherford (Texas) High School auditorium. Weatherford is Miss Martin's home town.
Dallas Morning News
HAGMAN LEAVING AT CLOSE OF RUN OF O'CASEY PLAY
When Cock-a-doodle Dandy the Sean O'Casey play which will have its first American performance at Theater '50 Monday evening completes its three week's run, Larry Hagman, one of the theater's production assistants will return to Bard College in New York.
Young Hagman, 18-year-old drama student who has been here doing field work with Theater '50 for his drama course at Bard, was seen in the repertory group's last production My Granny Van, and will also have a small role in the O'Casey production, that of the "second Rough Fellow."
The son of Mary Martin, the actress, and Ben Hagman of Weatherford he intends to make the theater his career, and his greatest ambition is to appear in a play with his mother and his young half-sister, Heller Halliday. The latter will be remembered here as one of Annie's little sisters, in the State Fair of Texas production of Annie Get Your Gun in which Miss Martin starred.
Dallas Morning News
2/1/1950
O'CASEY'S NEW PLAY UNVEILED IN DALLAS
Dallas, Tex., Jan. 31 - Sean O'Casey's "Cock-a-Doodle Dandy" became the twentieth new script produced by Margo Jones' Theatre '50 when it had its American premiere last night on the Arena stage here. ........
Louis Veda Quince and Ben Yaffee played the leading roles. Others in the cast were Mary Finney, Peggy McCay and John Denney. Larry Hagman, 18-year-old son of Mary Martin, took the part of a character known as "second rough fellow.".....
New York Times
5/30/1950
VOICE OF BROADWAY by Dorothy Kilgallen
Mary Martin's teen-age son, Larry Hagman, will make his theatrical debut this summer at Margaret Webster's school at the Woodstock Playhouse.
Mansfield News-Journal, Mansfield, OH
6/20/1950
WALTER WINCHELL ON BROADWAY
Stairway to the Stars: Mary Martin's daughter (8) makes stage debut at Westport in "Quality Street" soon. Her son Larry (18) has been signed by Margaret Webster for Shakespearean repertory at Woodstock.
The Zanesville Signal, Zanesville, OH
1/19/1951
RECORD RENDEZVOUS by Owen Callin
MARY MARTIN AND SON ARE NEW RECORDING TEAM
In the hustle and the bustle of the holiday season we overlooked a bit of rather unusual recording news. Columbia Records last month introduced a new singing team - comedy star Mary Martin and her 19-year-old son, Larry. The mother and son duo is heard in ''You're Just in Love" from Call Me Madame and "Get Out Those Old Phonograph Records."
With the releases Larry makes his recording debut.
Speaking of Miss Martin, Columbia also has released two sets featuring her - both on 10-inch LMP's. First is a group of the dandy songs she has done on Broadway from Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" and the other is a group of tunes from "The Bandwagon," written by Dietz and Schwartz. First set includes Anything Goes, You're the Top, I Get a Kick Out of You, etc., and the other. Dancing in The Dark, New Sun in The Sky, I Love Louisa, etc."
El Paso Herald-Post
1/26/1951
THE TEEN SET By Betty Betz
Ever since der Bingle made the recording of "Sam's Song" with his son, Gary, other recording artists are following suit. Mary Martin and her 19-year-old son, Larry, have a big Columbia hit, "You're Just in Love," backed by "Get Out Those Old Records." Wonder when Ezio Pinza and his young daughter will put a duet on wax!
The Winona Republican-Herald, Winnona, MN
5/6/1951
BROADWAY AND VINE By Radie Harris
SON OF MARY MARTIN DEBUTS IN 'TAMING OF THE SHREW' REVIVAL
"NEW YORK, May 5 - The New York City Center premiere of Margaret Webster's revival of 'The Taming of the Shrew' was not 'just another opening - another show' for me. It was an evening of personal enchantment because it heralded the Broadway debut of a young actor whom I have known since he was a small boy - 18 year old Larry Hageman. It was 12 years ago that I attended the Broadway debut of his mother who arrived in New York with a letter of introduction to me. I have proudly watched her career from a ringside seat ever since that memorable night when she became Broadway's favorite valentine - Mary Martin.
"Mary, giving her 761st performance of 'South Pacific,' couldn't be on hand to applaud Larry on this auspicious occasion, but her husband, Richard Halliday, who has been like a father to his stepson, was on hand to root for them both.
"Later, when I went backstage to congratulate Larry, he told me that Mary's opening night gift to him was a snappy new sports outfit with a card admonishing him, 'This is not to be worn at 21!'
"He also beamingly showed me congratulatory wires he has received from his 9-year-old step-sister Heller and from Nedda and Josh Logan, Dorothy and Oscar Hammerstein, Dorothy and Dick Rogers and one signed merely Larry. I assumed that this could be no one less than Sir Laurence Olivier, but Larry H., with the frankness of youth, announced that it came from Larry Gates, A fellow member of the cast.
"Larry, who, in his tall blond handsomeness bears a striking resemblance to his famous mother, has also inherited her modest charm and infinite capacity for work. Because of his sincere desire to get to the top on his own, just as his mother did, a grave injustice was done him by one of the local drama critics. In reviewing 'Taming of the Shrew,' the critic singled Larry out above anyone else in the cast for extravagant praise, absurdly unwarranted, in view of the three minor roles he played.
"Mary was infuriated over the embarrassing position in which the notice placed her son and made apologies to Margaret Webster and the rest of the company. So did Larry"
[This show was at the City Center, which is considered an off-Broadway theater. Larry's Broadway debut was not to occur until 11/6/1958]
Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA
6/20/1951
ON BROADWAY WITH EARL WILSON
. . .Mary Martin's son, Larry, 19, is new assisstant stage manager for the Music Circus In Lnmbertvllle, N.J. . . .
[Larry was 19]
Galveston Daily News, Galveston, TX
7/31/1951
KILGALLEN ON BROADWAY
by Dorothy Kilgallen
. . .Mary Martin's 19-year-old son, Larry Hageman, is holding hands with Sandy Stein, a ballerina in Lambertville's Music Circus . . .
Charleston Gazette, Charleston, WV
8/5/1951
LEONARD LYONS
. . . Mary Martin's son will be In the London cast of "South Pacific" when Miss Martin opens in the show there. He'll play the role of one of the Seabees . . .
Charleston Gazette, Charleston, WV
10/29/1951
MARY MARTIN'S SON NOT ON APRON STRINGS
London - Mary Martin's 20-year-old son, Larry declared today he is determined "to go places in the theater" but not by "hangin onto the apron-strings" of his famous singing mama.
Husky, square-jawed young Larry made this declaration during a break in rehearsals for the London production of "South Pacific" opening soon.
His mother, who starred in the two and a half year Broadway run of the musical classic, is also appearing In the Drury Lane Theatre version.
But Larry shows his independence by sticking to the strict routine laid down for the cast and living in a small hotel across town, from swank suite maintained by Mama Martin.
When "South Pacific" opens in London, it will be the first time Larry and his mother have appeared together on the stage in public. They once recorded a song together but Larry said: "Oh, brother was that corny !"
Evening Times, Cumberland, MD
1/9/1952
THE LYONS DEN
by Leonard Lyons
. . .Mary Martin's son, Larry Hageman, who appeared in London with her in "South Pacific," has been accepted by the U.S. Air Forces in England and now is at a training base in Wales. He'll he stationed in London . . .
The Independent, Long Beach, CA
8/19/1952
IN NEW YORK WITH WALTER WINCHELL
. . .Mary Martin's son Larry (in the chorus of London's "So. Pacific") took over an ailing specialty dancer's role for a week and clicked with a wallop. . .
Charleston Daily Mail, Charleston, WV
7/28/1954
TOP SHOWMAN LEAVING 3D AF FOR STATESIDE
by William Duren
Denham, England, July 27 (S&S) - One of 3d Air Force's leading entertainers, S Sgt Rod King of the 7500th Air Base Gp here returns to the States this month
King's latest effort was the "Spotlight Revue of 1954," which he produced with A/2C Larry Hagman, 3d AF entertainment specialist and son of stage star Mary Martin. The show is now touring 3d AF and 7th Air Div bases in Britain before beginning a tour of installations in France and Germany.
European Stars and Stripes, Darmstadt, Germany
12/19/1954
New York Herald Tibune, New York, NY
2/9/1955
LITTLE OLD NEW YORK
by Ed. Sullivan
. . .Sgt. Larry Hagman, Mary Martin's son, brings his English bride over here in May to meet Mary. . .
[Should be "Swedish bride"]
The Morning Herald, PA
4/23/1955
UK COMPLETES TEAM FOR USAFE CONTEST
London, April 22 (S&S) - Greenham Common's Melodaires and Lakenheath's A/2C Walter (Pete) Horn took top honors in the UK talent contest's male vocal divisions to qualify for tfte USAFE competitions in Wiesbaden May 2-6.
Pfc Frank Gorshin, who won in the novelty number competition held earlier, MC'd tbe vocal finals. They were held at the Bushy Park Base theater, under supervision of A/1C Larry Hagman, son of musical star Mary Martin.
European Stars and Stripes, Darmstadt, Germany
2/8/1956
David Healy, Dallasite of resident theater activity now on overseas duty with the Army in Britain, has been transferred from Manchester to London where he'll be assistant to Larry Hagman, who is in charge of Special Services for the Army in Britain, including radio, TV and stage shows.
Hagman is the son of Texas' Mary Martin and at one time served as a production assistant as Margo Jones' theater here.
Dallas Morning News
11/9/1956
GARDNER
By Hy Gardner
...The big blond youngster playing the role of the detective in Bill Saroyan's "Once Around the Block" so amusingly at the Cherry Lane Theater is Larry Hagman, Mary Martin's son...
The Oakland Tribune, CA
11/13/1956
MARY MARTIN'S SON WINS SCREEN TEST
By Dorothy Kilgallen
New York, Nov. 12 - Mary Martin's son, Larry Hagman, has been awarded a 20th Century Fox screen test as a result of his ingratiating performance as a cop in William Saroyan's comedy "Once Around the Block" at the Cherry Lane Theater.
[Larry Hagman says that this is not true in an interview for the Ultimate Dallas web site.]
Washington Post
5/27/1957
WALTER WINCHELL
...Larry Hagman in the cast of "Career" in Greenwich Village is star Mary Martin's son. Talent experts say he has it...
Syracuse Herald-Journal, Syracuse, NY
11/13/1957
The big surprise to Mary is her son, 25-year-old Larry Hagman, now acting on TV in New York after serving in the Air Force "He was all set to become a horse doctor," she said, "but now he's all excited about acting. The first time I saw him on the stage in a little theater off Broadway I nearly fainted - he was really good."
Lima News, Lima, OH
2/18/1958
Mrs. Robert Andrews, of Fort Worth, sister of Mary Martin, phoned us Monday to tell us she had just gotten a telegram announcing the arrival Monday at 5 a.m. of Heidi Mary Hagman, 8 pounds 9 ounces, born to Mr. and Mrs. Larry Hagman in New York. Larry, son of the musical comedy recording and television star is a rising young actor who is seen frequently on television. So it's Grandma Mary now!
[It's Heidi Kristina Mary Hagman]
Dallas Morning News
7/17/1958
BROADWAY DEBUT: Larry Hagman, Mary
Martin's son, who will have the romantic lead in
"Comes a Day." The Speed Lamkin play is due
here Nov. 6."
New York Times
11/1959
THEATRE PORTRAIT: MARY MARTIN
by Jack Balch
...she began to talk about Larry Hagman, her son by a first marriage....
"I sat in the first row in Comes a Day, and I didn't know the show. At least I didn't know it well. Larry came on, and there he was, close enough to me so he could have leaned over and grabbed the playbill out of my hands. His ablomb was complete. He paid absolutely no attention to me. Now the part he played was something like the stallion-minded fellow in Picnic that Ralph Meeker played. But he couldn't have cared less that his mother was out front. Coldbloodedly, with artistic afterthought, he went through his seduction scene. And, in a while, it couldn't have mattered less that this wild young man on stage was my son. I don't mind telling you I thought he was great. Only when he took his bow with the others at the end did he look at me. Then he grinned and grinned."
The Theatre
10/16/1961
TELEVISION PROGRAM NEWS
by Cynthia Lowry
Last season, when Teal Ames decided to leave CBS' "Edge of Night" for other acting jobs, the writers and producers of the daytime serial decided ruthlessly to kill off the character she played. This they did - with an automobile accident. The outcry from the faithful viewers was loud and outraged.
Now John Larkin, who has played the lead and hero, Mike Carr, on the program since its start over five years ago, has left the cast. But not on a stretcher this time. Larkin notified his bosses of his intention last April, so when he departed recently, the audience was prepared. Mike Carr has been called to a distant city to take a new big job. Actually Larkin has left for California and a film career.
Meanwhile Larry Hagman (Mary Martin's son) has been built up for the past several months playing Mike's junior law partner, and will take over the heavy acting burden of the daily soap opera.
The Capitol Times
5/8/1962
Mrs. Larry Hagman, whose actor husband is the son of Mary Martin, gave birth to her first son and second child at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City on May 2. The new arrival, who weighed 9 pounds, 10 1/2 ounces, has been named Preston, in honor of the Texas star's father, the late Judge Preston Martin of Weatherford.
Larry Hagman plays Ed Gibson in "The Edge of Night," daytime series on CBS-TV. Mrs. Hagman, the former Maj (pronounced My) Axelson, is also the mother of Heidi Christina Mary, age 4.
[Axelson is spelled Axelsson, it should be Heidi Kristina Mary, not Christina]
Dallas Morning News
1/5/1963
IT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT
by Earl Wilson
...Mary Martin flung a big party at her East River town house for her married son Larry Hagman of the B'way comedy "The Beauty Part." Mary was sitting in the orchestra section rooting for her boy...after all, 'twas he who made her a grandma.
Reno Evening Gazette, Reno, NV
2/9/1963
TELE-VUES
by Terry Vernon
Not too long ago, Mary Martin was thrilled even more than she was when she starred in "Peter Pan." The veteran stage-screen-TV actress was walking with her son, Larry Hagman, when autograph seekers approached. Mary prepared to do the signature honors but it wasn't her autograph the seekers were seeking. The New Yorkers wanted the autograph of Mary's son who played the role of Ed Gibson in the daytime serial, "Edge of Night." "It was a great moment together for us," said Mary. "I adored it."
Long Beach Press-Telegram, Long Beach, CA
3/10/1965
Mary Martin has said that she would love to guestar in a segment of the upcoming "I Dream of Jeanie," in which her son Larry Hagman will star. The only obstical would be her busy schedule which includes starring in "Hello, Dolly!" due here at the Music Hall in May and also going on international tour.
Dallas Morning News
4/18/1965
COMEDY SHOW
NBC has settled upon "I Dream of Jeannie" as one of its new half-hour comedy shows for next season. This Screen Gems creation stars Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman, who is Mary Martin's son. He plays an astronaut, and Barbara is a genie he frees from a bottle he finds on a tropical isle.
The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, TX
7/15/1965
B. J. HAGMAN, ATTORNEY, DIES
Parker County attorney Ben J. Hagman, 57, of Weatherford, the first husband of actress Mary Martin, died Wednesday in Dallas.
Mr. Hagman, a native of Forth Worth and a Weatherford resident and practicing attorney for 31 years, was a graduate of Texas Christian University.
He was a past president of the Parker County Bar Association. He married Miss Martin, now a Broadway musical star, in the 1930s. They were divorced in the early 1940s. He married Miss Juanita Saul shortly after.
Survivors: Wife; two sons, Larry Hagman of New York City and Gary Hagman of Austin, and a brother, William L. Hagman of Grapevine.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday in All Saints Episcopal Church in Weatherford.
[Mary Martin divorced Ben Hagman in 1936.]
Dallas Morning News
9/21/1965
I DREAM OF JEANNIE
NBC's answer to "Bewitched" shows signs of promise, particularly in the talents of co-stars Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman. The special visual effects were well done, with Jeannie emerging from and disappearing into her bottle in an effective wisp of smoke. After discovering Jeannie on the beach when his space craft (Hagman plays an astronaut) was forced down in mid-flight, the hero learned she was his slave because he freed her (the old bit). Upon returning to civilization, the astronaut had predictable difficulty explaining to his fiancee how this strange woman came to be in his quarters. It seems nobody would believe she came from a bottle. Quite a few laughs based on this theme should lie ahead.
The Post-Crescent, Appleton, WI
